The MBA Global Course in Madrid was an uplifting, eye opening, and rewarding experience that I will not soon forget. Firstly, I had two key cultural takeaways – broadening my exposure to art and the historical as well as the cultural context and knowledge gained from our guided visits to Salamanca and Toledo. We visited Museo Nacional Del Prado, Reina Sofia, and many cultural and historical sites throughout Madrid.
Secondly, a key part of the MBA Global Course is the business and professional development opportunities – something this course provided with abundancy. Our first company visit with the Metro de Madrid set the stage – they were thorough, professional, and provided excellent context for Metro’s sophisticated operations in the way of strategic decision making and risk management. Metro provided extensive feedback on how they mitigate risks in an ever-changing threat of terror environment – something that, unfortunately, many large cities are grappling with in recent years.
Our visit with Felix Solis, a global wine producer, provided great insight into the wine-making process and I was left impressed with the small amount of labor required to operate such a large facility. Contrast to the large multinational operations of Felix Solis was the family business of Artequeso Manchego Artesano – a company visit with the best perks (eating a lot of Manchego cheese). My favorite company visit was with Santander and learning about project finance. Carlos Muniz, Global Head of Project Finance, gave a perfect overview of the industry, the public-private domain of project finance, explanations of risk management, and the forward-looking process that Santander uses (in the way of environmental and social sustainability) in evaluating projects.
Lastly, I could not have asked for a better group of classmates to embark on this trip with. The MBA Global Course was a unique conduit for friendship building given that we shared so many different experiences together. We explored the cities (Madrid, Salamanca, and Toledo), tried many different new Spanish cuisines (all of the tapas!), and interacted with local citizens while learning Spanish on the fly from classmates who were fluent. I am looking forward to more experiences and memories with my fellow Business Badgers. On Wisconsin!
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